Varun Krishnan has been playing chess since he was 6, and he has amassed an impressive record.

He’s a national life master, has qualified and competed in the world youth chess championships three times, was the youngest Southern California Open State Champion in 2012 and was recently named the top 11th-grade player in the country.

The 16-year-old junior from La Jolla High School said he was thrilled to win the top prize for his grade level at this month’s National Scholastic K-12 Championship in Orlando, a competition put on by the United States Chess Federation that drew 1,474 players from 40 states, including 55 11th-graders.

“Going in, I wasn’t expecting (to win). There were so many serious players,” Varun said. “It was very tough; I wasn’t the top seed in my section going in. But then in the key round, I was able to beat the top seed and eventually I finished with a perfect seven out of seven and that was enough to win the national championship.

“It was a great experience and I was very thrilled.”

Varun works with a coach and would like to become an international master and grand master, titles bestowed on world-class players who have achieved extremely high rankings.

Varun’s mother, Aler, said chess has helped him with his analytical and strategic thinking. But she’s mainly glad to see him and his 10-year-old brother, Ajay, develop a passion for the game. For his part, Ajay won second place among the fourth-grade competitors in the same National Scholastic K-12 Championship.

“These days, kids have so many distractions. We are just happy they have something positive to focus on,” Aler Krishnan said.

Varun’s coach of the past eight years, Cyrus Lakdawala, said the teen is on track to become an international master, depending on how much time he can dedicate to chess before he goes off to college. He called Varun one of the two most talented players he has coached in the past 30 years and said he has an uncanny ability to discern intricacies on the board.

“He was always a deep thinker,” Lakdawala said. “Kids tend to move quickly and think they see everything on the board and they miss subtleties, but Varun from a very early age, he could see subtleties. ... He wouldn’t be fooled by outer appearances.”

He also said most young players “cannot grasp that what they see is just the drop in an ocean. They believe they see the entire ocean, but Varun understands he sees just a drop and then he looks for more.

“And in a kid, especially at 8 years old, it is especially rare and an exceptionally refined mind that can do that.”

Varun grew up in Austin, Texas, before moving to San Diego in 2005. Both his parents, who are from India, have played chess since they were children. His father, Vish, is a professor at the University of California San Diego.

Varun said it wasn’t until he competed in a state championships when he was 6 — and ended up in fifth place — that he began to get serious about the game. He has started a chess club at La Jolla High School, plays with the San Diego Chess Club in Balboa Park and practices online.